a. [ad. L. vīnōs-us, f. vīnum wine: cf. VINOSE a. and F. vineux (OF. vineus).]
1. Of the nature of wine; having the qualities of wine; tasting or smelling like wine; made of, or prepared with, wine.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 65. The fermentation and heat presently appears, with a kind of vinous steam.
1680. Boyle, Exp. Chem. Princ., I. 26. Fermentation rarefy’s the oyly parts of the Juice of Grapes, and subtilizes them into vinous spirits.
1694. Salmon, Bate’s Dispens. (1713), 114/2. So will the Liquor be Vinous in Smell, and more delicious in Taste.
1713. J. Warder, True Amazons, 156. The most wholesome of all the Vinous Liquors in the World.
1741. C. Middleton, Cicero, I. iv. 324. He was obliged, he said, to take some vinous medicines.
1818. Accum, Chem. Tests, 72. All vinous fluids, even the mildest, contain a portion of a free acid.
1856. N. Hawthorne, Eng. Note-bks., I. 242. They would perhaps have preferred a vinous potation.
1874. H. R. Reynolds, John Bapt., iii. § 2. 154. John was deprived from his birth of all vinous stimulus.
b. Producing wine or similar liquor. rare.
1676. Worlidge (title), Vinetum Britannicum: or, a Treatise of Cider;… Together with the Method of Propagating all sorts of Vinous Fruit-Trees.
1708. Ozell, trans. Boileau’s Lutrin, 41. Burgundia’s vinous Fields she hovers round.
2. Pertaining to, characteristic of, wine.
1708. J. Philips, Cyder, II. 106. Water will imbibe The small Remains of Spirit, and acquire A vinous Flavour.
1719. London & Wise, Compl. Gard., 78. It has a vinous and delicious Taste.
1775. Sir E. Barry, Observ. Wines Ancients, 9. A more rich and sweet taste than is natural to them in a recent true vinous state.
1834. J. Forbes, Laennec’s Dis. Chest (ed. 4), 173. An accumulation of blood … which … tinges the lungs of a livid or vinous colour.
b. Vinous fermentation: (see quot. 1857).
1748. Hartley, Observ. Man, II. iii. § 2. 220. All Liquors which have undergone vinous Fermentation … have a Mark set upon them as dangerous.
c. 1791. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), VII. 216/1. When the vinous fermentation was finished, the liquor … was found converted into vinegar.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 502. The vinous fermentation never takes place except in substances containing sugar, and it is most remarkable in those which contain the most of the saccharine principle.
1857. Miller, Elem. Chem., Org., 102. When spirit of wine is formed from sugar, the change is called the alcoholic or vinous fermentation.
fig. 1870. Lowell, Among my Books, Ser. I. 147. The Reformation had passed the period of its vinous fermentation.
3. Caused or produced by, resulting from, indulgence in wine.
1776. Johnson, in Boswell, 12 April. I have heard none of those drunken,—nay, drunken is a coarse word,—none of those vinous flights.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, xii. It has even been reported by maligners, that I sung a song while under this vinous influence.
1850. Thackeray, Pendennis, xlvi. Frank and familiar … from vinous excitement.
1874. Ld. Lytton, in Lady Balfour, Lett. (1906), I. 318. On our way back to town I was seized with a vinous inspiration.
b. Affected by, showing signs of, the use of wine.
1847. L. Hunt, Men, Women, & B., I. ix. 161. He was a shortish stout man, in powder, with a huge vinous face.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xxxiv. Winking at his cousin with a pair of vinous eyes.
1882. ‘F. Anstey,’ Vice Versâ, iii. 44. Clegg gave a vinous wink.
4. Addicted to wine.
1816. T. L. Peacock, Headlong Hall, ii. Indefatigable in his requisition for the proximity of his vinous Achates.
1820. Byron, Juan, III. xlii. The vinous Greek to whom he had address’d His question, much too merry to divine The questioner, fill’d up a glass of wine.
1859. Thackeray, Virgin., x. Let us fancy them reeling to bed,… and their vinous General … conducted to his chamber by the young gentlemen of the house.
5. With names of colors: Like that of (red) wine; having a wine-colored tinge.
1834. Penny Cycl., II. 79/2. The general colour of the body is a dark vinous red on the upper parts and silvery grey beneath.
1882. Garden, 25 March, 203/2. The colour of the flowers is a yellow-green with blotches of deep vinous-purple at the basis of the flower-cup.
1887. W. Phillips, Brit. Discomycetes, 65. Cup … rough, vinous-brown.
1894. R. B. Sharpe, Handbk. Birds Gt. Brit., I. 65. Ear-coverts and throat vinous-chestnut.
b. Of the color of wine; vinaceous. Also Comb.
1894. R. B. Sharpe, Handbk. Birds Gt. Brit., I. 19. The white or vinous-throated birds. Ibid., 80. The median and lesser wing-coverts vinous.
Hence Vinously adv.; Vinousness.
1727. Bailey (vol. II.), Vinousness, winy Quality, Taste or Smell.
1836. Fraser’s Mag., XIII. 733. He felt himself ‘vinously inclined.’
1859. Meredith, R. Feverel, xvii. He determined to overbear his client vinously. Ibid. (1891), One of our Conq. vi. His voice and words had a swing of conviction: they imparted vinousness to a heart athirst.
